School districts vary on bus seat belt policies

By Vinti Singh, STAFF WRITER

Published 10:48 pm, Thursday, February 25, 2010

DANBURY -- Legislators at the state Capitol are considering requiring all school buses to be equipped with three-point safety belts after a high school student died last month when a school bus transporting kids on a field trip crashed down a 20-foot embankment on Interstate 84.

State Rep. David Scribner, R-Brookfield, a ranking member of the Transportation Committee, said one thing being discussed is how the mandate would be funded. To outfit a school bus with safety belts can cost more than $10,000, according to testimony given at a public hearing on the issue Wednesday.

New Fairfield Superintendant Jose Castagnola said his school district has not received any complaints about the belts.

When the Danbury school district signed a new bus contract two years ago, its buses came equipped with the safety belts.

"When you buy them new, the price is much more reasonable because the belts are already part of the frame of the bus," said Superintendant Sal Pascarella. "When they're not new, there have to be some modifications to support the three-point seat belts. It can cost $12,000 to $20,000. ... It depends on the bus."

Pascarella said for the state to avoid passing another unfunded mandate, it could require that all new buses that school districts purchase be equipped with seat belts.

Except for the buses that transport preschoolers, Newtown school buses do not have safety belts.

"For all the years I've been in the industry, I'm of the belief that buses are the safest place a student can ride," said Tony DiLonardo, Newtown schools' transportation director.

Seat belts could even be dangerous if a school bus caught fire, DiLonardo said.

"If there's a fire on board, you have very little time to ... evacuate," he said. "If one of the children got stuck in their belt, they would never be able to get out."

Also, if a bus were to roll over and land upside down or on its side, the children's first instinct would be to unclip their belts, and there would be a 10-foot fall from their seat to the ceiling or other side of the bus.

"Children are more resilient. They roll and tumble," DiLonardo said, so they would be safer in a rollover if they were not belted to their seats.

Another issue would be how to outfit a school bus with belts that fit 4-year-olds and 18-year-olds, Scribner said. He was also concerned about who would be responsible for checking that students were wearing the belts properly.